The obsessive-compulsive guitarist gives his instrument a voice

Rhett Butler calls his show a “light-hearted approach to very serious guitar playing.”

During his instrumental set, you’ll hear a variety of influences in his music.

“I’ve been inspired by a lot of different styles of guitar playing, and I’ve taken the time to incorporate those into my playing,” Butler said.

Another thing you’ll see is Butler playing two guitars at the same time, a move he picked up to grab people’s attention.

From what we hear, it works.

He took some time to talk with us about his slick skills in advance of his upcoming show at the Logon Cafe.

Q How would you describe your music?
A It’s a very difficult thing to do. First of all, I would say it is instrumental. I’m not a very good singer and I’ve always had the idea that if I worked hard enough, I could give the guitar a voice where I didn’t have to be a singer. That’s always been my approach.

I never pursued singing and on top of that if I were to write a song, I really don’t know what I would say.

Q What got you into to playing guitar?
A I started playing in 1987 — I asked for a guitar for Christmas.

If you are growing up in the ‘80s and start playing guitar as a kid, you can’t help but be influenced by Eddie Van Halen. I learned how to play the guitar by listening to and wearing out Eddie Van Halen tapes. I’d stop and rewind over and over again until I would either destroy the tape or learn how to play the song.

I never really played in a band but I never had a desire to play in a band. I was just playing the guitar by myself and I was happy with that, and I kind of envisioned that is what I wanted to do. When I got to college, I saw a guitar player named Billy McLaughlin play a solo acoustic guitar concert, which I had never thought, seen or heard of.

And when I saw that, I thought, man, that guy has a relationship to the guitar the same way I do.

Q Do you play a lot of the listening rooms?
A It’s always a concert-type event, even if it’s in a smaller venue like the Logon Café. It kind of comes back to the concert idea.

Let’s be real about this — you are not going to make a whole lot of money playing instrumental guitar music. So half the reason that you are going out to do it is to have that experience with the audience where you can make a moment that you are going to remember. If you don’t insist on presenting your music in a venue where people are listening, it doesn’t make it worth doing.

Q Did it take you a while to find that type of place?
A Yeah. I started off playing a lot of places where I was purely background. I was playing at the Starbucks. Starbucks is like McDonald’s — people don’t go there for music, they go there for coffee. It’s not like the coffee shop that you see on “Friends.”

That is how I came up with the idea to play two guitars at the same time.

In those types of situations, I would challenge myself to come up with ways to turn that into a concert where people were only paying attention to me. That was my solution.

Q If you had one song you hoped someone Googling you would find, what would it be?
A I have a brand-new video up that was just produced a week ago called “Galway Races.” It’s really, really good. It’s one of my favorite songs that I’ve written and the production on the video is really well done.

Q Do you play covers?
A That’ll be part of the show — I like to mix in songs that people have actually heard before, and that’s what I’m talking about when I say lighthearted stuff.

You know, I’m not above playing something for the sake of the audience.